62 APES AND MONKEYS. 



ably smaller than the siamang, standing about thirty inches in height ; and it is 

 also of a lighter and more slender build. Although subject to great individual 

 variation in colour, it may be always I'ecognised by the pale colour of the hands 

 and feet, of which the upper surfaces are usually either white or j-ellowish-white. 

 Another distinctive characteristic is to be found in the usual presence round the 

 black skin of the naked face of a complete ring of more or less nearly white 

 hairs ; which, as is well shown in our illustration, imparts a most peculiar physi- 

 ognomy to the animal. Occasionally, however, tliis wliite ring is almost absent ; 

 diffei'ent indi\'iduals showing a gradation in this respect from those in which it is 

 but very slightly developed, to those in which it attains its full proportions. The 

 general colour of the body and limbs of this gibbon varies irom a full black, through 

 various fulvous shades, to a yellowish-white. In opposition to what usually obtains 

 in Mammals some individuals of this species have the back lighter than the under 

 parts of the body ; and it may occasionally be much variegated. 



The white-handed gibbon is found throughout the Malay Peninsula, as far 

 north as the province of Tenasserim, and may possibly reach into Lower Pegu. 

 It inhabits the forests skirting the mountains, at elevations varying from about 

 three thousand to three thousand five hundred feet above the sea-level. 



Colonel Tickell has given an excellent account of tliis gibbon, 



Mode of Life. ... . fe > 



both in its \n\.A state and in confinement. It appeai-s from this 



description that the wliite-handed gibbon is somewhat more hea\'ily built and less 



agile than the hoolock (to be noticed next); while it walks on the ground less 



steadily. It is also said to differ from the hoolock in its manner of drinking — 



scooping up water in its hands, and thus can-ying it to its mouth, instead of 



applying its mouth directly to the sui-face of the water. The same observer also 



notices a great difference in the voice of the two species. The white-handed 



gibbons are also stated to go in smaller parties than the other species ; the number 



in a drove, according to Colonel Tickell, being usually from six to twenty. They 



depend almost entirely on their hands in passing from bough to bough, and use 



their feet to carry food. He has seen a drove of these apes escape in this maimer 



with the plunder stolen from a garden made by the Karen tribes near the foi'ests 



which they frequent. Like other species of the gi'oup, the white-handed gibbon 



almost invariably has but a single young one at a time. The young are bom at 



the commencement of the winter season ; and cling to the body of the mother for 



neai'ly seven months, after which they shift for themselves. 



The Hoolock {Hylobates hoolock). 



One of the best known of all the gibbons is the hoolock, or white-browed 

 gibbon, which, as we have said, takes it name from its characteristic dissyllabic 

 ciy. This is the only species which occurs in India, where it is confined to the 

 north-eastern districts, being found in the hill ranges south of the Assam valley, 

 as well as in the provinces of Sylhet, Cachar, and Manipur. Thence it ranges to the 

 east and southwards into the hill-forests of the Irawadi valley near Bhamo, in 

 Upper Bui-ma, and in the neighbourhood of Chittagong and Arakan. It may also 

 occur near Martaban, in Upper Tenasserim ; and the extent of its range on the 



